Cartman

August, I wonder if we are drifting from the original intent of this cordial and thought provoking thread? The US is not an empire strictly speaking, but they have flexed their muscle throughout the globe and I am not convinced it is always for peace and democracy. In any case, it may be that the US appeared to be in far worse shape at the turn of the century, but it seems to me things have become progressively worse since the Vietnam War. Other nations such as China and India now appear to be the places to invest. How will we be able to compete? I was shocked by the whole Enron affair (and others) and the weakness of GM and Ford is pretty scary. When pillars of US society show such weakness, the fallout will look somewhat like this thread...full of hatred. I sure hope you are right and I am wrong.

Civil war eh? C'mon. Half the people living here in Calgary came from Ontario or other countries.

Speaking of garbage on Global, they recently played a newscast and stated that Canadians were going to the polls next week. It was a rerun from months ago. Why would you run a show again that dealt specifically with the likelihood of a spring election? Yeah, but would you really compare Fox News to these other (terrible) stations or would Jerry Springer be a better source for comparison? Fox News seems more like entertainment than information dissemination. I don't really find them to be a right wing station as much as an incredible negative station. I am glad the free trial on satellite is over 'cuz it was not worth watching.

I doubt there is much incentive to study the phenomenon sincerely and honestly. Election results have already shown that support for separation is very weak; an idle threat at best. Papers want exciting headlines not something like <1% of Albertans favour separation. I think alienation is real, but it is not strong enough to separate.

I have not heard this either probably because it is not true. Layton has suggested an export tax until the softwood lumber issue is resolved, but a ban?

The only way to accurately predict election results is to survey every constituency right before the election. This is too expensive so we have to rely upon rough estimates. I think it is interesting to speculate. The Liberals will most likely win because the NDP and the Conservatives are generally regarded as nutbars by most Canadians. The real question is what the Liberals would have to do to lose an election.

I am unclear as to how impoverished people would be aided by private medicine. If they do not have the $ to pay for care in the US, they will not have the $ in Canada. That is, unless you believe that the government should pay for private care. I believe that the public system is good but requires reformation. August, I just get tired of the term socialist being thrown at people who people believe taxes can solve some social problems. This is not to say that I believe governments always spend money well. I believe that there is much that we can cut. The problem is not taxation because we all agree with that to an extent, it is what the money is spent on. I believe that most of our social programs have value.

I already said that government is socialist by nature and definition. They could always go to the US if their lives are in jeopardy. Rarely do I believe that people wait in line for life saving procedures anyways. If private medicine were clearly shown in several studies to be more efficient and able to cover everyone in the country, then I would be in favour of it. That has not been the case so far.

Here is another on-line poll for you Black Dog. 71% of voters believe Elvis is alive and hiding in Vancouver.http://elvis.meetup.com/363/poll/19867/ Personally, I think that this is more likely than the average Albertan thinking of considering of planning on the possibility of separating.

Well, I am no Liberal but I think the only thing the next election will decide is whether they receive another minority or a majority. My guess is that they get a slightly larger minority...unfortunately.

The US seems to be an empire in decline. They are involved in a war that does not appear to be paying off, their dollar is shaky, major corporations like GM and Ford have to dramatically reduce prices in order to maintain sales, they have a serious debt problem and they are facing energy shortages. Nobody is saying this is all Bush's fault, but they appear to be in real trouble and better do something about it.

Constructing Argus as "anti-Bush" seems really, well, bizarre to me. I will now set myself to the task of characterizing August as a Jack Layton groupie and Hugo a full fledged communist.

Burns and Max. You can't have it both ways. Either you believe taxes represent elitist thinking (government arrogantly believing it can spend your money better than you can) or not. Let us extend your argument further. Both my wife and I have sufficient time, skills and desire to home school our kids, so why should we be forced to pay for elementary and secondary education? I am tired of paying for other people's day care services and would like to opt out. The state is arrogantly arguing it can spend my money better than I can. How elitist. I believe meat is unhealthy and I am against cruelty to animals. Why was I forced to pay for the BSE bailout? The state is arrogantly arguing it can spend my money better than I can. How elitist. There are many private security firms in Canada that my condo association could hire to locally secure our safety and property better than can the police. The state is arrogantly arguing it can spend my money better than I can. How elitist. I want to opt out. I am against urban sprawl, so I do not want to subsidize the construction of low density neighborhoods and yet more roads. By all means, let's privatize all roads and pay tolls whenever we drive. I am not really interested in paying to secure Afghanistan. The state is arrogantly arguing it can spend my money better than I can. How elitist. I want to opt out. If, in the name of liberty and freedom, we are going to allow people to opt out of health care, then we should be allowed to opt out of ALL government programs. After all, individuals know how to spend their money better than does the government. Should this happen, government will likely become ineffective and anarcho-capitalism may well ensue. Hugo has generated hundreds of posts demonstrating that all social needs can be met without government. If you disagree, then you are the socialists.

BTW, this thread title is really inappropriate because it falsely stereotypes an entire group of people when Greg has clearly asked us to be more polite.

You really cannot make this argument unless you are an anarchist. You are using an individualist anarchist argument by saying that people should not have to assist one another in emergencies (i.e. Alaska and NO). But then you seem to be a Bush supporter. Last time I looked, Bush spent tax dollars and he is certainly no anarchist. Do you not see how illogical this is?Maybe Argus has this "quaint" notion because they call themselves the United States of America not the Atomized Individuals of Anarchyland.

It seems as though suburban sprawl has some pretty negative effects on society including the construction of more roads, traffic jams, greater energy consumption, higher taxes etc. What, if anything, should governments do about this problem? http://tinyurl.com/92zk9

I want it all August. I think we should subsidize lower prices at home by raising them on others. I realize that this will never happen and that it is discriminatory. So given existing options, you are probably correct.

#1. You could define any state as socialist because you are forced to pay for militaries and police forces. Why should I be forced to pay for your protection? Why is it socialist to pay for health care but not the police, our sewers and water etc? #2. The average Joe often does not know what to do with their money. Many people spend money on drugs, booze, gambling etc. I suspect few people would have saved up for Katrina relief. The only relief I have heard about came from the socialist organization FEMA.

$2.00 litre sounds high but I recall the Calgary Herald warning that gas prices would be at current rates a long time ago. All it will take is one incident in Saudi Arabia and through the roof they will go. I hate the way a catastrophe on the other side of the globe raises our prices here when production is just fine here. Kinda makes you wonder whether the Liberals should have sold Petro Canada.

It seems to me that the Liberals lied to Canadians on this issue and this is what really pissed off people. I can see the government wanting to know how many guns are out there and trying to control who owns them, but they royally screwed this up. This was an attempt at gun control when they said it was simply about registration. They should have created an all party commission to determine how to handle this. All they did was further alienate the West. Don't get me wrong, I am in favour of a reduction on such weapons in Canada. Gun ownership should not be a free for all. But this whole approach was arrogant and inefficient.

A real shocker here. I will vote NDP again as I have every election. The Liberals need to be turfed because there has been too much corruption in our federal government to let them in again. Unfortunately, Harper and company have chosen to oppose same sex marriage which really bothers me and too often they seem to be willing to kiss US ass. They have also flip flopped on issues so IMO, they have not adequately differentiated themselves from the Liberals. I would really like to see a platform of prioritizing government spending, having a forensic accountant find areas to reduce waste and then fund our priorities properly. I guess I would like to see a "good government" platform again. [Edited to add, how can anyone vote Liberal? I can obviously understand other New Democrats and I can even get Conservatives, but why vote Liberal?]

I would agree. There must be a way to sheild freight vehicles from such rising costs, at least until contracts can be renewed. My beef is with people who voluntarily drive Yukons, Escalades and Hummers etc. to drive their kids to school. If fuel is so cheap that you can afford to drive these kinds of vehicles for pleasure use, then I have little sympathy.I have driven a small car pretty much all my life simply because I did not want to contribute to pollution. But with so many people driving massive vehicles, I briefly considered buying an Avalanche as my visibility is frequently reduced. With this fuel increase, hopefully others will downsize and I can keep buying efficient cars. Apparently Daimler is taking a bath on their Smart cars ($1 billion loss so far) in Europe.

Victory will be glorious general.

Yeah, you can't blame people for living there. If they took that approach, much of the US would be abandoned. In Canada, we would have to evacuate Winnipeg and a large portion of Manitoba. BTW, let's just get rid of Vancouver too as they will experience an earthquake some day. Victoria just to be safe. I am not sure whether racism entered into the equation, but I would be lying if I said it had not occurred to me. Why are we so reluctant to blame politicians for their errors?

Governments are frequently considered socialist, communist and even oppresive in nature because they forcefully redistribute incomes; sometimes from the affluent to the needy. These revenues are expected to used be used for "society" because individuals will simply not solve social problems on their own. The suggestion is that individuals do not know best how to spend their own money. Indeed, American Rebublicans and, to a lesser extent, even Canadian Conservatives have run on a platform of lower taxes and consequently lower expenditures for common problems affecting the common good. The NDP has advocated relatively higher taxes and higher expenditures. The Liberals are always somewhere in between. Katrina has demonstrated that socialist governments are needed due to their ability to collect taxes. The reality is that individuals have not saved and organized in order to to deal with such events even though they are not unexpected. Wal-Mart may help in the reconstruction of NO, but even they cannot rebuild it without the incorporation of state taxes as are advocated by so-called socialist governments taking your money.